Like Seasons
by strongasdiamond
Summary: "They complete each other, just like seasons do." Sasuke is mighty, Sakura is hopeful, Naruto is powerful and Kakashi is enduring. They are a force to be reckoned with. Team 7 is nature: balance and chaos all together. It's why they work, Sai reflects as he paints them.
1. Chapter 1

Sasuke is winter.

Cold and fierce but still beautiful in a way only winter can be. He is unyielding and graceful and his arrival excites and terrifies people in equal measure. He is winter, loneliness combined with despair. Pride looks good on him; the way snow does when it covers all.

Winter is death and sadness, much like Sasuke has known because in winter family gathers together. There is love and warmth and comfort and a sense of eternity. It's home and home is other people.

 _The people he had lost and the ones he is now lucky to have._

Sai paints. He uses dark shades of blue and grey. He uses black and white because he is both. White for the innocence that was so brutally taken away from him. Black for the darkness that had overtaken his soul, for mourning, for grief, for the wails of despair that never escaped him.

People respect winter.

 _Fear it._

 _Marvel at it._

 _Envy it even._

After all, nothing is more magnificent than how the sun shines, making ice glimmer.

Sasuke is winter, Sai reflects.

 _Because of everything he was, is and could be._

Winter is love.

...

Sakura is spring.

Pretty, soft, outspoken, brimmed with potential but also loud _(it's_ _needed, to wake-up the world after the slumber winter had casted)._ She is strong, in body _and_ spirit, looking to heal and mend everyone and everything. She is spring, rebirth, and new beginnings.

Spring is deceitful with its beauty and illusions. Seemingly timeless even when you know it isn't. It's wonder and miracles. Buds blossom into flowers, insects become butterflies. Spring is the season of hope.

 _Something she didn't use to have._

Sai paints with pastels, for the times she had quietly watched him as he drew and for the pleasant smiles she generously gave, for her insecurities and the tears she often shed. He paints with vibrant colours because the green in her eyes it's too alive to ignore and the pink in her hair too rare not to smile at.

People wait for spring all their lives.

 _They become better._

 _They stop fearing change._

 _They dare to dream._

Nothing is more enticing than having cherry blossoms surround you with a gentle breeze.

Sakura is spring, Sai reflects.

 _Because she is proof beauty and strength can exist at the same time._

Spring is happiness.

 _..._

Naruto is summer.

Bright to a painful degree, welcoming to the point the evillest villains turn into allies and warm, enough to burn. He is cheerful because he has known times of numbness, of pain; persistent, determined, sticking out like a sore thumb. He is the desire to live, passion and adventure combined in the most unique of ways.

Summer is exuberance, boldness, bravery. But most of all? Freedom. Something summer gives and gives, never takes. It's feeling invincible, like you are standing at the top of the world, knowing nothing can touch you. It's the season when nobody is alone.

 _Once upon a time, that's all he ever was._

Sai paints. With baby blue, white, yellow, red, and orange, green, and purple because summer has it all and there was a time when Naruto had nothing. He is hesitant to use black, brown, and grey but then he thinks Naruto had walked in the darkness once and would do it again and again for his precious people.

People need summer like they need air to survive.

 _They crave it._

 _They have fun._

 _The word 'impossible' stops existing for a while._

You never do feel more alive than when you go for a swim in the ocean late at night.

Naruto is summer, Sai reflects.

 _Because nobody else would dare to outshone the sun._

Summer is powerful.

 _..._

Kakashi is autumn.

Autumn means busy schedules, working until late and working hard. Autumn is the satisfaction when you see the result, the fruits that the seeds you had planted have become. It is filled with melancholy and the past gets closer than ever to the present. It's rough edges and fine details.

Autumn is regrets, wishing for second chances, for peace, for eternal slumber. Autumn is also desperately clutching to the last of everything. Last rays of sunshine, last remaining leaves in trees, last days of freedom before duty chains you down. It's isolation and perfectionism but more chaotic and messier than any other season.

He is loyal and not capable of being read. There are just too many shades and he is the winner at looking underneath the underneath. He is adapting and quiet, suffering, wearing twice as many masks as the different coloured leaves.

Autumn is the season of gratitude, appreciation, protectiveness.

 _For the times he didn't know what truly mattered._

Sai paints. He goes for the classics. Nothing too fancy but just enough to stir curiosity. He leaves much to the imagination but makes sure the painting says all the things Kakashi-san never got to say. A touch of mystery there and one of honour. Teamwork reflecting in the way four birds fly together. One is yellow, the other is pretty and the last is late.

People admire autumn.

 _They wander._

 _They heal._

 _They thrive._

Nothing else shows how lovely is to let things go.

Kakashi is autumn, Sai reflects.

 _Because he learned how to silence his demons and dance with his angels._

Autumn is enduring. 


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! So here is another one-shot! Thank you so much for the positive feedback and reviews, they made me smile and strive to write again. Warning ahead: this one is sad but I hope you will like it nevertheless.**

* * *

Naruto was broken.

Deep down, beneath loud proclamations of his Hokage dream and pointless speeches about ramen. Beneath bright smiles and fearsome strength and silly pranks and sincere promises.

He was just like them.

Lonely, sad, desperate. Pitiful and starved for affection. Hopeful and stupid to a painful degree.

A masochist really.

That's what he was. What else could you call his fierce, blatant refusal to give-up? He needed the scars, the wounds, the pain. They let him know he was alive and not a ghost, not invisible. Naruto didn't care how people noticed him.

As long as they did.

...

Sakura was broken.

Beneath chakra infused fists and remarkable ninjutsu, beneath gentle smiles and confidence.

She was just like them.

Hopeless, weak, a waste of space. No longer naive but hating herself for the time that's all she ever was.

They were falling apart. Naruto and Sasuke. Kami knew Kakashi had been for years. So, she buried herself under medical textbooks, working hours on end. _Perfect._ Her skills couldn't be anything less than that because she had to keep them alive. If not in spirit, then at least in body.

Sakura didn't care that she was the weakest.

As long as they never were.

...

Sasuke was broken.

Deep down, beneath emotionless eyes and arrogant scoffs, beneath the chirping sound of Chidori and the terrifying strength of the Sharingan, beneath hatred and revenge.

He didn't think they were alike. _(what do they know of my suffering?)_

He was a survivor. _(fate had been that cruel)_ Betrayed, alone, angry, spiteful, bitter.

Responsible. That's what he was. He didn't want to walk the path of an avenger, didn't choose it.

It chose him instead and nothing else mattered after that. How could it? He never saw his father anymore. The office was empty. He never heard his mother sing again. The kitchen and garden were void of her smile and gentle voice. The children that used to play on the streets, the elderly that spoke to him of glorious times and youth they no longer had...gone. In one night, murdered by the one he loved most.

Sasuke didn't care about his own peace.

As long as his family got theirs in the end.

...

Kakashi was broken.

Deep down, beneath the mask, beneath an eye that wasn't even his, beneath his despicable reading material and tendency to arrive late and the mind games he played and the aloof facade he put.

He was beyond repairing, unlike his students, he prayed _(don't let them become us)._

Numb, a tad bit insane, cold, ruthless. Guilty and guilty and guilty. _Everyone dies but you always make it. Why your parents? Why Obito? Why Rin? Why Minato-sensei?_ He was haunted. Every day and instead of freaking out, he got addicted. Because ghosts or not...they were still the ones he loved. The ones he had he failed.

Kakashi didn't care if he died.

As long as no more comrades of his did.

* * *

 **A/N: If you have any theme or idea you'd like me to do, don't hesitate to ask!**


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